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Toddler-Friendly Vegan Breakfast Ideas

The alarm goes off, the baby cries, and you hit the ground running to get ready for work and get everyone where they need to be on time. Almost all parents are familiar with the morning rush. But there are a few things you can do ahead of time to make sure your family has a healthy, vegan breakfast that will give all of you fuel for the day—without having to set your alarm for an earlier time.

At the first of this year, my son, Brooks, turned 1. It was a milestone for him in many ways. He began to walk and find a little independence. He began to explore so many new foods. And he started going to daycare.

Talk about the trip I took on the guilt train, the first day I left him in tears. Was I a bad mother because we weren’t together all day, every day? Would he miss me too much? Would I miss him too much? Could I get over feeling anxious/guilty/nervous?

Something that worked for me was to limit my morning rush. The more calm, fun time I could spend with my baby in the morning, the better I felt about our time apart.

I started scouring Pinterest and other online sources to find toddler-friendly foods that were healthy, and that I could make ahead of time. Then I played around with vegan substitutions for dairy and egg-based ingredients.

These make-ahead portable meals made a huge difference for us. I could sing, dance, and be silly with the little guy while we got ready instead of scrambling for breakfast. I posted the photos of some of the quick and easy dishes on my social media sites and got a tremendous response from moms and dads, both vegan and not.

So, check out these ideas! They’re easy to make on a Sunday and keep your family’s tummy happy for a week or more of breakfasts. Make the recipes one at a time, or make them all and freeze. It’s all about adapting breakfast to fit your schedule.

*I used pre-made ingredients to save time, but you could certainly do things from scratch!

1. Unroll pie crusts and cut uniform circles out of the crusts. I used the top of a glass because I didn’t have a round cookie cutter. 2. Place a layer of circles on a greased cookie sheet. 3. Fill center with whatever filling you’ve chosen. 4. Lay a second circle of crust on top of the base and filling. 5. Press edges together with fingers or fork. 6. Bake as directed on the pie crust package.

1. Prepare pancake mix according to package directions.2. Cut bananas into slices about as thick as two quarters stacked together. 3. Dip them in batter and place in a hot skillet already prepped with cooking spray. 4. Watch as you would regular pancakes and flip when one side is done. 5. Serve with coconut whipped cream, syrup, or dusted with powdered sugar. They’re even delicious plain!

1. Prepare pancake mix according to package directions. 2. Fill greased mini-muffin tins 2/3 full with the batter, then place a few pieces of fruit on top on the batter. 3. Bake at 425 degrees for about 9 minutes.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. 2. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, then divide mixture evenly into the paper liners. Each liner should be filled with just under ¼ cup of the mixture. 3. Add different toppings to each filled liner and bake about 30 minutes in the oven.4. To reheat, it only takes about 60 seconds in the microwave.

What breakfast ideas help your family conquer the morning rush? We’d love to hear!

Robbyn is a journalism and communication lecturer at Troy University after a journalism career spanning more than a decade. She has been vegetarian since 1997, vegan since 2009, and a sci-fi/superhero nerd her whole life. Robbyn lives with her husband, toddler son, and a pair of rescued cats and dogs in Alabama.